A One-Day Conference for Owners, Family Members, and Employees of Family Businesses
FORESTVILLE, California (April 15, 2015) — In Short Marketing will present “Surviving a Family Business,” a one-day conference at Santa Rosa Junior College’s Shone Farm on June 16, 2015, created specifically for owners, family members, and employees of family businesses. Invited speakers and panelists are experts in assisting family owned businesses with the challenges and opportunities that are part of the family business experience. The conference will include such topics as “Living the Dream: Running a Family Business,” “Negotiation and Conflict Resolution,” and “Integrating and Retaining Employees and Family Members in Your Family Business.” The cost to attend is $225 per person, and discounts are available for companies sending two or more persons. A full schedule and registration to attend can be found at www.survivingafamilybusiness.com.
A family business presents challenges and opportunities for owners, family members, and non-family employees. Compatibility and familial relationships can create workplace dynamics that are not found in companies owned by stockholders or run by corporate teams; creating and building functional teams of employees mixed with family members can be more challenging in family owned businesses. The “Surviving a Family Business” conference will provide insight on managing those workplace dynamics, and practical, real-world advice on managing family members, building intra-personal skills, and creating functional teams.
The conference will be Tuesday, June 16, 2015, from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM, and include morning and afternoon presentations and seminars. A lunch will be served to all attendees, speakers, and panelists to encourage discussion and dialogue. Accompanying the conference will be a select group of companies specializing in assisting family owned businesses exhibiting their products and services. The day will finish with a “Question and Answer” period with all speakers and presenters available to attendees.
“Operating a business requires a huge amount of work for anybody,” notes Elizabeth Slater, owner of the conference’s producer, In Short Marketing. “But when you add the additional levels of complexity involved in family dynamics the workload and the costs can ratchet up. If things go wrong, not only can you lose your business, but perhaps part of your family.”
To give family owned businesses the survival tools they need, Slater put together the full-day conference featuring speakers who not only run family businesses, but are experts at helping others do it too.
Confirmed speakers include Max and Theresa McFarland, founders and owners of Mac’s Creek Vineyards & Winery in Lexington, NE, with their sons, Barry and Seth. Max and Theresa earned their degrees in Psychology and Educational and School Administration respectively. Max currently serves on the Wine America Board of Directors and is Chairman of the Nebraska Grape and Winery Board. His research in the vineyard has focused on delaying bud break in cold climate hybrids and reducing pesticide usage in disease control. Theresa currently serves on the executive board of the Nebraska Winery and Grape Growers Association. Together, the McFarlands will lead the discussion, “Living the Dream: Running a Family Business.”
Terry D. Taylor will conduct the seminar on “Negotiation and Conflict Resolution.” Taylor is President and CEO of Global Genesis, and has worked successfully with small non-profits to international Fortune 500 entities around the globe and with multi-cultural teams. Global Genesis is also a family business, as Taylor works with his wife Cathy and daughter Genevieve. Taylor studied educational and social psychology as an undergraduate and a graduate at Stanford University. He is particularly focused on the psychology of change, as well as human communication and working relationships that result in change. Taylor specializes in coaching, and consulting in the arenas of negotiations, conflict resolution, high performance teamwork, and strategic planning for small businesses and corporations.
Shone Farm is a 365-acre outdoor learning laboratory for the Santa Rosa Junior College’s Agriculture/Natural Resources Department. The farm provides students with hands-on experience that cannot be duplicated in the classroom. The farm is located about 12 miles from the Santa Rosa Campus, between the towns of Forestville and Windsor, in the heart of the Russian River Valley. It was named in honor of Robert Shone, a very active leader in Sonoma County agriculture, in addition to being a Santa Rosa Junior College trustee and President of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau.
The conference will be held in the Warren G. Dutton Jr. Agricultural Pavilion. The pavilion is the educational centerpiece of Shone Farm. It provides instructional space for virtually all of SRJC’s Agricultural and Natural Resource Management programs, as well as related community events.
Elizabeth Slater founded In Short Direct Marketing, www.inshortmarketing.com, in 1994 to assist businesses including wineries and winery associations with direct marketing. Today, In Short Direct Marketing is recognized throughout North America as a leading authority on marketing wines, wineries, and wine regions to consumers. The company, still led by Slater, has grown into a loosely formed alliance of marketers, public relations, and design professionals that together tackle different aspects of marketing, always with an emphasis on direct marketing. Slater focuses most of her efforts on seminars and workshops, which present a variety of marketing and sales subjects to wineries and winery associations and other retail businesses throughout North America.
Additional information is at www.survivingafamilybusiness.com.
